The present invention relates to a bake carbon flue straightener for use in straightening the flue wall of an anode baking furnace. A problem which can occur with anode baking furnaces is that during operation the flue wall can exhibit bending or bowing due to external forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,905 describes a method of straightening the flue walls in a carbon anode ring furnace. The ""905 patent discloses a method of straightening a flue wall by interposing a hydraulic jack between closely spaced brick flue walls and actuating the jack to apply opposing forces to the wall. The jack is positioned and actuated in a number of locations corresponding to a predetermined circular pattern about a deformation zone to reduce the deviation of bricks of the deformation zone. A tie brick is thereafter inserted between the flue walls to maintain normal spaced relation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,220 discloses a coking reactor wherein coking blends are fed batchwise through the reactor whereby the reactor is heated through adjustable heating installations over the flue walls bordering the reactor chamber on both sides. As pointed out in the ""220 patent, damages due to swelling are excluded altogether, as rigid lateral walls prevent the flue walls from being displaced.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an improved flue wall straightener for straightening the flue wall of an anode baking surface where bowing or bending of the flue wall has occurred.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bake carbon flue straightener.
In one preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a bake carbon flue straightener for straightening a flue wall of an anode baking surface from a deformed or bowed position to a straight or normal position.
The flue straightener includes a plurality of remotely controlled and independently actuated hydraulic cylinders mounted on a plurality of elevations space apart at equal distances from each other and a steel frame for supporting the hydraulic cylinders. Each of the elevations of the hydraulic cylinders are coupled to a continuous length of extendable solid push plates for extending the push plates to the deformed or bowed flue wall so as to push or straighten with equally distributed forces the deformed or bowed flue wall back to straight or normal position.